STOP PRESS!

We will be appearing on a feature about dating and internet dating in mid-life which will be live on air on Monday 13th October at 10:20 on BBC Coventry & Warwickshire 94.8, 104 & 103.7 FM Digital Radio, on Annie Othen's morning show.

Yesterday morning, I did my stint on a BBC News Panel and I had a great time.

My fellow pundits were great fun - one was a Henry 8^th lookalikie (yes, really) and the other, a volunteer for St Margaret's Hospice, a wonderful little charity who also run one of my favourite little charity shops in Chard, Somerset.

I digress.

We get into the studio early and are flung a coffee and the day's newspapers to trawl through and ideally we have to seek out a story that pertains to our line of work.

That's never difficult in my case as sustainable living and related elements of it touch just about every story you can imagine these days.

Yesterday, I went for ‘Killer Compost' a feature in the Daily Mail about a bad batch of week killer infested compost that's been responsible for blighty potatoes and bad crops, illness and all sorts (solution: make your own...I'm digressing again aren't I - sorry...)...

But I was drawn to a great story that I'd read on the BBC's own website whilst burning the midnight oil the night before.

It was about an innovative pair who,

Spent three months collecting and recycling litter to pay for their honeymoon flights.

John and Ann Till, from Petersfield, in Hampshire, took thousands of cans and bottles to a recycling centre at a nearby Tesco supermarket.

For every four recycled items, they earned a reward point, which was then converted into BA air miles.

They amassed 36,000 miles, which they used to fly back in business class from their US honeymoon.

Genius!

But it raised the question in my head as to whether this, or similar recycling schemes for money should be rolled out around the country?

I am old enough to remember R Whites Lemonade and I can still see that bloke coming down in the middle of the night for a crafty glass in his stripy pyjamas and Buddy Holly glasses, looking like Jarvis Cocker's dad..

When you took the empty bottle back to the shop, I seem to remember you got 10p or thereabouts.

Whatever happened to those great ‘return yer empties' campaigns?

I know my kids would pop back to the shop to collect a few pennies in return for dropping off their bottles. The problem now is that so few drinks actually come in glass! They are all bloomin' plastic aren't they!

I just wondered if any of your local shops or supermarkets were running a scheme like the Tesco's one mentioned in the story, or if you know of anything on a smaller scale?

Is the age of getting a few scheckles back on your empties really dead and buried?

And furthermore, if it had a revival, would you use and support it?

Rubbishly yours,
TSx

PS:  Did you enjoy the movie?  It had me in creases!

Read the BBC news story in full.

Go to BBC Somerset and click on 'Listen Again' on the right hand menu bar. Select ‘Monday' from the 'Morning Jo' show to listen to the news panel programme, available on archive for a week. We are on from 9-10am.

The treatment of Sarah Palin by the media and others basically brought up the subject. 

Here's the links:

WHYS: Are women their own worst enemy?

Sarah Palin quotes from a Starbucks cup the words of Madeleine Albright, but why should women support each other? Are women themselves the biggest obstacle to gaining equality?

Duration: 50mins | File Size: 23MB

Download Episode

Anyway, since I made the effort to set up the little widget (okay not very strenuous, but I did it), it occurred to me that it's an excellent way for me to share some interesting or perhaps strangely relevant music. The widget is at the very bottom of the sidebar.

THAT'S RIGHT,  P A N N A C E A E A E  IS GOING MULTIMEDIA!

I'm planning on posting a new song each week, leaving it available for 1½ to 2 weeks. The latest is by a young Cape Verdean singer named Mayra Andrade (no, not the race car driver Mario Andretti). I heard her perform late one night some months ago on a BBC radio broadcast, and just had to get the album. I hadn't been seized by such a musical desire in a long time. "Lapidu na bo" ("Stuck on You") is the second song on her so-far only recording and it's truly lovely. Portuguese is such a beautiful language. If you do take the time to listen, I hope you enjoy it.

Hi folks

There won't be a post from Tracey today as she's all tied up getting ready for another week of interviews and public appearances. So instead I thought it would be a good idea to give you all an update of where and when you can catch a glimpse of our fabulous rubbish author.

Today
Tune into BBC Radio Somerset this morning between 9am and 10am as Tracey will be a guest on the Morning Jo show. If you go to the BBC Radio Somerset website you can listen in live or even listen later on in the day by clicking the 'Listen Live' and 'Listen Again' buttons in the right hand column. 

Tracey will be then appearing on BBB Radio Solent at 10:20am for an interview and again, you can listen via you computer through the links provided by the BBB Radio Solent website.

Wednesday
Dorset residents can catch Tracey at the Waterstones in Bridport between 10:30am and 12:00pm for a book signing and Fabulous Rubbish Flatbreads making demonstration. That should be a lot of fun so do get down there if you get a chance. 

Saturday
Tracey will be opening The Multiple Sclerosis Society Pampering Evening in Taunton this Saturday, as well as doing a book signing. The venue is the Taunton Holiday Inn (Deane Gate Avenue, Taunton, TA1 2UA) and tickets cost £3.00. For more information please contact Lauren Luella on 01278 433872 or emailmisslaurenluella@hotmail.com

Isn't it reassuring that the British government were so well prepared during the Cold War that they had made plans to make a pre recorded BBC announcement just in case of Nuclear annihilation. Yep, in 1974 the British Broadcasting Corp thought it be wise to pre record a message just in case of a nuclear war, because lets face it, who has the time to do it afterwards? But then again, who the hell would be listening to the radio or watching telly when burnt to a crisp? But it has also been revealed that the BBC felt it was vital that the message was recorded with a BBC voice, as they wanted the public to be reassured that the whatever the outcome, the BBC had survived the attacks (bless). Correspondence reveals they were extremely concerned about this "If an unfamiliar voice repeats the same announcement hour after hour for 12 hours, listeners may begin to suspect that they are listening to a machine set to switch on every hour or perhaps even that it has got stuck and perhaps after all the BBC has been obliterated." Boy, they thought of everything, because I'd probably be more pissed to find out I had been fooled by the BBC than having been nuked by some blasted enemy! Though it was never recorded, there is a draft script floating around which start off by saying "You may die if you go outside".

The investigation, which the corporation is required to carry out at least once every five years, will look at how people aged between 13 and 34 consume media, and the value they get from the two stations. It will also look into young people's use of new technology and whether the BBC needs to change the way it reaches certain parts of its audience.

The Trust has opened an online public consultation, which will run until 16 December. It will also carry out audience research and a number of focus groups with young people, with a final report expected next spring.

In a speech earlier this year, the BBC Trust chairman, Sir Michael Lyons, said the corporation had been on the receiving end of some “harsh criticism” about how it caters for young audiences.

“Young people are among the groups it can often be hardest to reach,” he said. “We believe that conducting a rigorous review, building a solid evidence base, is the best way of providing a firm foundation for future work to ensure that children and young people get the best possible service from the BBC.”

Looks like my folks had a torrid time getting to that show last night?

I did wonder if a diary entry would throw up the opportunity to write about The Goons?!

The Goon Show was a BBC radio comedy programme which entertained the UK  for most of the 50's. However, its influence continues to pervade well over half a century later.

Created by (the world's GREATEST comedian EVER) Spike Milligan, The Goon Show featured anarchic surreal comedy decades before anarchic surreal comedy became fashionable. Spike's eccentric scripts - acted out by Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Spike himself - were ludicrous to the extreme, combining obtuse plots, puns, silly voices and daft sound effects.

The shows were VERY much the precursor to - and the primary influence behind - the likes of Peter Cook, Monty Python, The Firesign Theatre, The Young Ones... in fact almost all alternative comedy.

Spike created characters like Neddy Seagoon, Eccles, Bluebottle. Moriarty and more, whilst single-handedly inventing (IMHO) the "catchphrase". Radio listeners would sit and wait for their favourite characterto utter things like "I 'ave been deaded", "You rotten swine you", "We'll all be murdered in our Beds" or (my favourite) "He's fallen in the wah-ter"

From 1951 until 1960, Spike and the gang banged out over 260 episodes. However, the pressure of writing, and then having to perform, all this material took its toll on Milligan who suffered from (what later came to be called) bipolar disorder. Thus consigning Spike to the seemingly never-ending list of "tortured comics" (see "Lenny Bruce", "Bill Hicks" or "Mitch Hedberg"). Indeed, Spike was absent from the show for several months in 1954 after he attempted to murder Peter Sellers..... with a potato peeler!

The Goon Show ceased to be in 1960, but was repeated constantly on BBC radio. (Indeed, it is STILL repeated on BBC's Radio 7!).

In 1972, to celebrate the BBC's 50th anniversary, the troupe were persuaded to get back together for "The Last Goon Show of All". Although far from the tightest or funniest of Millgan's scripts it nevertheless serves as a suitable tribute to how bizarre The Goons were, even outside of their heyday. It was simulcasted as a BBC TV documentary... here seen in 5 segments (the funniest, I think, being Part 3)

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

As per my diary entry, the Goons obviously got together to promote the show on Michael Parkinson's popular TV chat show, although I can find no footage to substantiate that.

Years later - in 2001 to be precise - I had the extraordinary pleasure of meeting Spike in person. He was nearing the end of his time, very frail and weak, but still willing to travel the country to do instore meet & greets to promote his latest book "Treasure Island".

I dutifully queued in line at the Southampton Waterstones to meet him and have him sign my copy of the book. When it was my turn to at the desk I told him "Mr Milligan, I'd like to shake your hand" and held mine out. He looked me in the eye and said "You don't have anything do you" (referring to sicknesses or illnesses). I shook my head at which point he grabbed my hand with both of his - in a genuine friendly grasp - to which I simply mumbled "Thank you sincerely for all the laughter you've given me over the years". He smiled. I smiled. I walked away.

I'm not normally phased by 'stardom' - always reminding myself that these people are just "people" - but on this occasion I felt genuinely starstruck and in awe of the presence I was in.

There are a million and one online sites dedicated to The Goons, but this one seems to be pretty comprehensive.

Finally, here's the Goons' novelty hit single "The Ying Tong Song" from 1956!...

Unfortunately after several more books this great author died.  The BBC worked up more radio series based upon the fresher books, and a movie was made.  I won't speak too much of the movie since I believe it is a travisty that only came to existence because Douglas had ceased to exist.  If you want to see his vision of the original story watch the BBC's television series, it is available on DVD (British readers click here/US readers click here) and Douglas even makes an appearance in it. Naked!!!

Today I've learned that an author has been tasked with writing a 6th Hiker novel, expanding the misnamed trilogy still further.  Will this be a good thing?  We'll have to wait until October next year to find out.

BBC News - New Hitchhiker's author announced

Thanks to Bridget for the tip!

Ryan Moore rode Galeota and Bonnie Charlie to victory on Wednesday

Galeota claimed the Construction News Scarbrough Stakes for the second year in a row on the opening day of the St Leger festival at Doncaster.

With Ryan Moore on board, the Richard Hannon-trained six-year-old took his fourth victory in Doncaster with a win by three quarters of a length.

The Moore-Hannon combination struck again as Bonnie Charlie won the Construction Index Conditions Stakes.

Ballantrae kicked off proceedings with victory in the Flakt Woods Nursery.

Meanwhile, Slugger O'Toole eased to victory in the Heating And Ventilation News Handicap, while Judge 'n Jury claimed the Emap Glenigan Sprint Handicap.

Perks, ridden by Jimmy Quinn, made short work of his two rivals in the Hire From Hewden Conditions Stakes.

John Dunlop's runner cruised to victory by three lengths in an impressive ride by the Benny Andersson-owned horse.

Quinn said: "He won here on soft ground early in the season and he is different class on this sort of surface.

"He had a couple of bad races on ground that didn't suit, but he quickens on that like it is good ground."

But it was the success of Hannon and Moore that was the real highlight of the first day at Doncaster.

Hannon's assistant Richard junior said of Galeota: "He has had his problems and still has, but we still get him to the track. He loves it here and he still enjoys it too.

"He is in the Portland on Saturday but it would be a big ask to run again under a penalty, and he is four from four here so I wouldn't want to ruin his record.

"There is a race for him at Newmarket on Champions Day and there is also the Diadem, although I am not sure that Ascot suits him."

And racing manager James Stafford said Bonnie Charlie could go on to bigger and better things.

"He disappointed us a little at Newmarket last time but the ground was faster than he wanted, and I do think give in the ground is key to him," he said.

"He will stay in training next year and we would love to win a Listed race with him.

"We won the Scurry Stakes at Sandown this year with Corrybrough and that could be the race for him."

The action at Doncaster, culminates on Saturday with the St Leger.

Jimmy Fortune rode Centennial to victory at Goodwood in August

Trainer John Gosden has decided not to enter Centennial, losing his chance to win the race for the second year in a row.Gosden, who trained Lucarno to victory last year, had considered adding the grey - at the cost of £45,000 - after he came back into form recently.

But racing secretary Peter Shoemark said: "We will not supplement him - we are going to look at the Prix Niel."

Meanwhile, Doctor Fremantle is one of Sir Michael Stoute's three runners.

Stoute is trying to win the prestigious race for the first time at his 23rd attempt, with five second-place finishes from his 26 different runners in the world's oldest classic.

The trainer has withdrawn Patkai at the five-day declaration stage and declared that stable jockey Ryan Moore will be on board either Doctor Fremantle or the Queen's Vase and Gordon Stakes winner Conduit.

Eighteen horses will go forward to the mile-and-six-furlong classic, with trainer Aidan O'Brien responsible for eight of the field.

Irish Derby winner Frozen Fire, on target for his first start since The Curragh in June, is the confirmed ante-post favourite.

"I am not sure of plans yet as we will have to wait and see what the weather does, but Frozen Fire is a strong possible at the moment," said O'Brien.

"Alessandro Volta, Washington Irving, Hindy Kush, and Bashkirov are all very strong possibles at the moment too, but they all have work to do.

Runaway Oaks winner Look Here, trained by Ralph Beckett, is likely to be provide stiff competition for Frozen Fire.

Racing continues with Ladies' Day on Thursday, with Rainbow View, favourite for next year's 1000 Guineas, running in the May Hill Stakes (1510 BST).

Other highlights include he fillies' Group Two Park Hill Stakes at 1400 BST, and a £300,000 contest for two-year-olds at 1435 BST.

Friday's feature race is the Group Two National Express Doncaster Cup at 1440 BST, where triple Ascot Gold Cup winner Yeats may make an appearance.

Saturday, which features the Leger, also sees the Group One Betfred Sprint Cup at 1755 BST.

As long as you have a Wi-Fi internet connection set up at home, this smart internet radio automatically detects your network connection and hey presto, you have access to over 4,000 radio stations from all over the world. Tune in from the comfort of your home to a radio station anywhere in the world. You’ll find all radio stations conveniently listed by genre and country for fast browsing using the user friendly controls on the front of the Wi-Fi radio, and you can save up to six favorite stations. All the nation’s favorites are on there such as BBC Radio 1 to 5 and you can even listen to BBC Radio shows from the last couple of days through BBC iPlayer! An available line in lets you connect your iPod or MP3 player to the Wi-Fi radio and play your favorite tracks through the internet radio speakers, and a handy SD card slot can be used to play music. You can even play music from your computer through the Internet Radio via a Wi-Fi connection! Order your Morphy Richards Wi-Fi radio now and tune into any radio station, anywhere in the world.

This puppy can be yours for £54.95 a pop.

Ok - the cat is out of the bag...my master plan has been revealed in a blog post (see the excerpt from the ‘Kitchen' chapter).

I am waging a war against the hefty retailers, supermarkets in particular, and I want ‘you' to sign up as trusty warriors - but we'll be using words, not swords and you know what ‘they' say about that...

"True, This! -
Beneath the rule of men entirely great,
The pen is mightier than the sword. Behold
The arch-enchanters wand! - itself a nothing! -
But taking sorcery from the master-hand
To paralyse the Cæsars, and to strike
The loud earth breathless! - Take away the sword -
States can be saved without it!"

(Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839 for his play Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy.)

On the last page of the sneak preview of my ‘Kitchen' chapter, you will have seen one of my ‘Letters for Change'.  It's laid out like an email in the book. There are several ‘Letters for Change' dotted throughout the book, but this one is my favourite.

This ‘Letter for Change' calls for the store in question to provide their customers with receptacles so they can deposit unwanted, superfluous packaging.  Ideally, there would be one for cardboard, one for plastic and anything else would be a bonus! 

It would allow you to leave behind those plastic four-pack holders for cat food or beans, the cardboard wrapper that holds your yoghurts and the irritating cellophane that embraces your cucumber.

I urge you to copy it out adding the details of your local stores, MP, BBC radio stations etc, speak to your friends about it too, seek their support, then post or email your correspondence to the relevant parties.

Depending upon their response, you might like to take things on a stage further - see below.

You see, you are not legally obliged to take any of this packaging home with you and you have a perfect right to leave it at the point of sale.

My hopes with this exercise are simple; optimistic, but simple.

1. The stores in question should accept their corporate social responsibility for thoughtful recycling of this unwanted and very often superfluous packaging, by giving their customers receptacles to deposit it in, at the point of sale.
2. If not, they might face a wave of disgruntled customers, who exercised their right to leave said packaging at the till, for the store staff to organise a swift disposal of, which I suspect might cause a kafuffle, (especially if there were a dozen people doing synchronised unwrapping at several tills at the same time - not a suggestion, just a thought...).
3. If this were to become a ‘bit of a faff', I suspect the retailers would soon tire of their customers kicking back and saying ‘NO' to the excess packaging on their goods; particularly once they realise they are paying over the top of the price of the produce, just to take the wrapping home and throw in the bin! 
4. Further, the retailers might eventually reconsider the products they stock and give the consumers what many of them want - their goods without all of the wrap!

To effect positive change on a national scale is clearly an enormous undertaking, but I'm not a girl to aim low. 

I truly believe we consumers have the ability to make ourselves clearly heard and we can make the retailers rethink their environmental policies in favour of their customers. 

If we are to make a ripple in the pond of our modern culture, we are going to have to pull together, get support from our friends and neighbours, get writing, carry out our action and cause a little organised chaos!

Who's in?

Rubbishly yours,

TSx

Find your Member of Parliament.

Find your local BBC Radio station.

PS: Environmental policies?  Let's see them in action!

Asda

Marks & Spencer

Sainsbury

Tesco

Waitrose

Radio 1 breakfast producer Aled Haydn-Jones and 1Xtra early breakfast presenter Dev are keeping video diaries as they drink between eight and 10 units every day.

The experiment is part of a season of special features across the two stations designed to raise awareness of the short-term effects of binge drinking.

"The people we're aiming this experiment at are people who regularly drink six to 10 units of alcohol every day or every few days," Haydn-Jones said.

"This is to see whether there are any short term effects that would happen the day after or the week of drinking."

The Radio 1 Surgery with Kelly Osbourne will be discussing the issue this weekend, including interviews with Bianca Gascoigne and Michelle Heaton and audio from a Leeds A&E unit and police working the weekend shift in Watford town centre

Aled's diary: Week 1 | Week 2
Dev's diary: Video | Text

1. Larry Tee - Carmina Burana / I Love U (Bart B More mix)
2. Les Petit Pilous - Wake Up - Boys Noize
3. MSTRKRFT - Bounce (Bloody Beetroots 90 mix) - Dim Mak
4. MSTRKRFT - Bounce (A-Trak mix) - Dim Mak
5. Herve - Cheap Thrills (Armand van Helden mix) - Cheap Thrills
6. Fake Blood - Mars - Cheap Thrills
7. Weird Science - Haus of Cards - Dim Mak
8. Machines Dont Care - Afro Jacker - Cheap Thrills/Dim Mak
9. Busy P - To Protect and Entertain (The Crookers dub mix / vocal mix) - Ed Banger
10. Basement Jaxx - Hey U (Switch and Sinden mix) - XL
11. Proxy - Raven - Turbo
12. Junkie XL and Steve Aoki - 1967 Poem (club mix) - Nettwerk
13. Steve Aoki - Dead Meat - Dim Mak
14. The Fashion - Solo Impala (Weird Science mix) - Epic
15. Duran Duran - Skin Dive featuring Timbaland (Steve Aoki keyboard club dub mix) - Epic
16. Metro Station - Control (Weird Science mix) - Columbia
17. Shitdisco - Ok (Yuksek mix) - Fierce Panda/Dim Mak
18. The Bloody Beetroots - Dimmakmmunication - Dim Mak
19. MSTRKRFT - VU VU VU - Dim Mak
20. Lazaro Casanova - Venganza (Felix Cartal mix) - Classanova
21. Don Rimini - Let Me Back Up (The Crookers mix) - Mental Groove
22. Bugo - La Mano Mia (Cecile and The Bloody beetroots mix) - Universal
23. Eric Prydz - Pjanoo - Data
24. The Presets - My People (DIM mix) - Modular
25. Felix Cartal - Montreal Dreams (Aoki edit) - Felix Cartal
26. SPA - Pets Dance (Aoki edit) - Dim Mak
27. Debonaire Samir - Samirs Theme (instrumental mix) - Milk Crate
28. Daft Punk - One More Time (Aoki edit) - Virgin
29. Daft Punk - One More Time (House Moguls JFK edit)
30. Jean Elan - Where Is Your Head At (Klaas mix) - Big and Dirty
31. The Who - Baba O-Reily (Sebastien mix)
32. MGMT - Kids (Aoki intro edit) - Columbia

I'm loving the Busy P featuring Murs "To Protect and Entertain" Crookers Remix from the Aoki mix.  One of my favorite rappers together with one of my favorite dance remixers.  It doesn't get much better than that.  Download the full song below.

Busy P feat Murs -To Protect and Entertain (Crookers dub n vocalz remix)
[audio http://thelooks.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/busy_p_-_to_protect_and_entertain_crookers_dub_n_vocalz.mp3]

Didsbury is a beautiful place where yesterday I went for a run and discovered an idyllic park just round the corner. Some kind new friends invited us out last night to join in a family celebration - people are SO friendly!

Great talk today from Alan Taylor at church about LOVE. Lots of insightful points, what grabbed me most was the idea of surprising love. Check it out at the website.

What a week for going from person to person learning how to love. Among others (including the removals men who were brilliant) I've met...

Anthony the alarm man, who took a copy of a little book with him full of bible promises - I wrote in it, "praying that God would bless you and keep you safe as you keep others safe."

Ron the aerial man who will introduce me to his pals at the Dog & Partridge

Ron the runner who helped me when I got lost and ran back with me - what an interesting bloke!

Paul the gas fitter who told me his Dad was a Jew who became a Christian when a street evangelist spoke to him; Paul took a little devotional book and as I prayed with him together with Zoe, his eyes welled up with tears.

This morning I met an absolute Manchester legend - Mike Shaft. I used to listen to Mike's TCOB shows on Piccadilly 261 back in the day - and how chuffed was I to be his guest for a short slot / interview on his show on BBC Radio Manchester. It went really well.

As I write, Joel, Sarah & Steve, Matt and John from church have turned up to do the one thing I hate most of all - the job I am absolutely most ungifted for - putting together our new flat pack furniture! How amazing that people would give up their sunny Sunday afternoon to do that. What a great gift to us. Surprising love in action.

God loves this city - and I do too!

BBC's iPlayer continues to develop and recently the Beeb added the ability to view H264 encoded versions of their content which theoretically should give higher quality pictures combined with moderate streaming bandwidth overheads.

Currently this mode can be toggled as the downside of H264 encoded material is that it calls for greater

processing power at the playback end. There still seem a few bugs to iron out particularly on the Mac playback side but it's a welcome development and in time may also open the door to HD encodes being available on the iPlayer.

The audio side has not been forgotten with AAC+ audio encoding which it's hoped will spread to the radio side of the iPlayer.

Coming soon will be series stacking which will allow some series to be made available in their entirity even as the series is being broadcast. The powers that be at the Beeb in the form of the BBC trust have currently put a limit on the amount of material that will be made available as a series at any one time.No more than 15% of on-line content shall be a series stack with no more than 13 episodes available at a time for each series.

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The Hidden Crime of Hate Geoff Adams-Spink looks at hate crimes against the disabled. In spite of some high-profile cases, the criminal justice system is failing to address the problem and apply the law. 40 minute radio Show

For those who listen to BBC 4 live, the show will air again on August 24 at 17.00.

Many crimes are difficult to classify. For example, in June, the South Wales Echo reported a series of attacks on one family that were spread over a period of six years.

Their garden shed was robbed on a number of occasions

The woman's wheelchair was stolen and burned.

A note was left saying, "I can get into your house at any time."

The family car was defaced with spray paint.

The family van was torched.

No one was arrested for these crimes.